Rep Alzate introduces a bill to save RIPTA - will the General Assembly bite?

"I don't believe asking for money for RIPTA has ever been this aggressive," said Rep Alzate. "This is the first time that we're saying that this is a big fricking deal, and it needs to be aggressive."

The Providence Streets Coalition is asking that people contact their State Senators and Representatives in support of this bill here.

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Representative Karen Alzate (Democrat, District 60, Pawtucket) has filed H7774, a bill that would appropriate enough money to plug an $8 million hole in the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA)’s funding found in Governor Daniel McKee’s FY2025 Budget, and seeks to fund RIPTA going forward. Representative Alzate’s bill has been endorsed by 32 of her fellow House members.

The bill contains an appropriation of $24 million to “support RIPTA in hiring and training more bus operators by increasing wages and benefits to be competitive and in line with the rising cost of living in Rhode Island and with our neighboring states.” [The RIPTA Board recently voted to increase the starting driver wage from $21.71 per hour to $25.33 per hour.]

In addition, the bill contains an annual $46 million that is critical for the implementation of the Transit Master Plan that would expand transit service statewide – a key strategy for reaching the state's legally mandated Act on Climate goals.

The bill has yet to be scheduled for a hearing, but I spoke to Representative Alzate at the Rhode Island State House on Thursday just before the House session got underway.

Karen Alzate: The bill allocates $78 million in the budget for RIPTA. Ideally, the $78 million will bring us to a space where we can pay the drivers' money - because we have a driver's shortage which we've had for a long time - and that will alleviate the service cuts happening across the state.

While I am concerned about the entire state, I'm more concerned with Pawtucket and Central Falls. In Pawtucket, they're going to cut five service routes and in Central Falls they're going to cut two out of the three that we have. So we have to do something. I'm all about paying employees a livable wage - so this bill will be helpful.

We haven't been funding RIPTA [properly] for the last 30-some-odd years, and this is what is happening now. This isn't like last year we didn't fund it, so now this stuff is happening. This is the result of years of defunding. If we don't fund RIPTA correctly, we're going to see more services cut and at some point, if we're on this trajectory, I suspect that RIPTA is just going to dissolve and we're not going to have any public transportation

Steve Ahlquist: Or completely privatize it. Exactly. It would be a bigger state. I noticed that the bill has both short-term goals - $8 million to make up for this year and then a sustained $24 million a year increase to make sure that we're funding it adequately into the future. The bill specifically mentions things like meeting the goals of our Transit Master Plan and Act on Climate. It seems pretty ambitious.

Karen Alzate: It is ambitious, but the takeaway has to be that this is what the opposite of not funding RIPTA looks like. So this is about what we need. I would be ecstatic to get the $8 million. That's our biggest thing. That's the bandaid. But everything else is going to get us to a place where RIPTA is fully funded and becomes a sustainable transit system that will allow us to meet all the goals we've set forth.

I don't believe asking for money for RIPTA has ever been this aggressive. This is the first time that we're saying that this is a big fricking deal, and it needs to be aggressive. $8 million is what we need right now for a bandaid, but we've got to push this forward. That's why we're asking for $78 million.

Steve Ahlquist: I've always appreciated your ability to make the big asks - like the millionaire tax - you've never shied away from that. But I also know that big asks are really hard.

Anything else I should know?

Karen Alzate: I don't live in the transportation world and I don't ride the bus. However, just because I don't ride the bus doesn't mean that it's not important to me. We have a beautiful, new train station in Pawtucket, but if we're not funding RIPTA, you're canceling it out. When I think about the economic development happening in Central Falls and Pawtucket - we have this amazing stadium happening. How are we going to get people there? We don't have adequate parking for the stadium at the moment. Using RIPTA is a great way to get there.

We're looking at what's happening now with the Washington Bridge. If we can take cars off the street and provide alternative transportation for Rhode Islanders, why would we not do that?

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The Providence Streets Coalition is asking that people contact their State Senators and Representatives in support of this bill here.

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